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I recently finished reading the book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson. At first glance you might find the title a bit racy or down right offensive. However, if you are able to make it past the first chapter your perspective will likely change. I have to warn you though, the F-bomb gets dropped several times in the first chapter alone. I stopped counting at twenty because I was too busy laughing.

Average is Now Not Good Enough

One of the things that Manson talks about in this book is that we are constantly being overwhelmed with extraordinary stories on all social media platforms. While we are scrolling on our social media feeds whether it be Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, we are bombarded with bits about the richest, the fastest or the most popular. The book explains that average stories do not sell, a concept I happen to agree with. The media prioritizes the most shocking and appealing content to drive sales and product awareness. This is having negative side effects on minds that are still impressionable. Many people are putting themselves down because their lives or stories are not like the ones they find on social media constantly, therefore they start acquiring a sense of inferiority and self-doubt. Here is where the name of the book comes into play. We should stop caring or “giving a f*ck” about everything we see in the media.

Don’t Try to Always be Happy

Manson criticizes books or ideas that encourage people to always have a positive outlook on things. Sometimes we experience things that are bad and it is ok to not be optimistic about them, but rather deal with them as they come without sugar coating them. He also says, “This book is not a guide to greatness.” To be able to solve the problems in your life you must first be able to cope and embrace the fact that sometimes life or circumstances are crappy. Not everyone will lead an extraordinary life, but empowerment will come to you once you admit to yourself the problems you have and decide to face them.

Final Thoughts

Self-entitlement is very popular right now and is not always good. It is not always the kind of entitlement which makes a person think they deserve some sort of special treatment because they think they are better than others, rather the type of entitlement that comes from a person feeling sorry for themselves. Entitlement also encourages people to be politically correct to an unhealthy intensity. Sometimes people just need to deal with their own problems. As Manson says, we need to choose the values that really matter to us and expect to face the problems that come with upholding those values.